Lot
58

A GEORGE III SILVER SALVER

MARK OF JOHN CARTER, LONDON, 1771

A GEORGE III SILVER SALVER
MARK OF JOHN CARTER, LONDON, 1771
Circular, on four openwork scroll and foliage feet, with foliage and ribbon border, engraved with a coat-of-arms, the back engraved with an inscription, marked on back and border
19¾ in. (50 cm.) diam.
108 oz. (3,349 gr.)
The inscription reads 'The Gift of Mrs Hay in 1771 TO Margareta Maria Fraunceis [sic] '. The arms are those of Fraunceis, for Margareta Maria Fraunceis Gwyn (d.1801), of Combe Florey, Somerset, who married John FitzGerald, 23rd Knight of Glin (d.1802) in 1789. Margareta was the niece and godchild of Mary Hay (d.1771), whose mother had inherited the extensive Somersetshire estates of her tragically murdered fiancé, Thomas Rich of Hartrow and Elworthu, in 1727. The ghost of Margareta looking for her lost lover still roams around Hartrow Manor, which descended to the Sweet-Escott family.